"Grey death" is a deadly opioid mix that has led to at least four overdoses in the SouthIngredients may change from one batch to another, putting users at risk of overdose(CNN) A new drug called "grey death" has been linked to a handful of lethal overdoses in the South -- but no one knows exactly what's in it or where it's coming from.

The drug, a mix of opioids, can kill in very small doses and looks like concrete mixing powder.

"When I hear about something new like grey death, my first thought is, 'Is there some novel compound we haven't discovered yet?' " said Donna Iula, director of forensic chemistry at Cayman Chemical, a biotechnology company that works with federal and state crime labs to identify unknown street drugs.

Over the past four months, Georgia police have seized about 50 batches of grey death statewide, with metro Atlanta being a major hotspot. The drug has also started popping up in Alabama, Ohio and Pennsylvania, state and local officials confirmed.

Because ingredients change from sample to sample, each batch of grey death is a mystery -- right down to its signature color.

"To this date, I have no idea what makes it gray," said Deneen Kilcrease, a forensic chemist with the Georgia Bureau of Investigation's crime lab. "Nothing in and of itself should be that color."

Investigators have found a variety of opioids in grey death samples: designer drug U-47700, heroin, fentanyl and fentanyl-like molecules. Because each drug is present in such low concentrations, some of them may not show up on tests, Kilcrease said.

"These chemicals are all very potent and very deadly in isolation, but in the wrong hands ... that's a fast-track route to the morgue," Iula said.

"There have been several overdoses and overdose-related deaths across Georgia and Alabama linked to grey death," a report from the Gulf Coast High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area said. Toxicology and autopsy results are still pending for the Georgia cases, Kilcrease said.

Two of the men who overdosed were in Auburn, Alabama, according to the report. One man injected the drug, and another snorted it. When the IV drug user passed out, the other man tried to resuscitate him before overdosing himself, the report said.

Because lab tests may pick up only one ingredient, like heroin or fentanyl, there may be other overdoses from grey death that we don't know about, Kilcrease said. But there is no way of knowing for sure.

Georgia has confirmed six deaths from U-47700 and 12 deaths from furanylfentanyl this year, Kilcrease said.

"You can throw anything in a baggie and call it 'grey death,' " Iula said. "It's going to constantly vary, and it's going to keep the chemists and the medical examiners on their toes."

A grayish form of gravel-like heroin has been reported in multiple regions since 2012, the US Drug Enforcement Administration said. But that concoction did not contain U-47700, commonly known as "pink."

In November, the DEA listed U-47700 as a Schedule I drug, a restrictive category for drugs with a high potential for abuse. The agency took this emergency measure after dozens of deaths across the country.

"Because substances like U-47700 are often manufactured in illicit labs overseas, the identity, purity, and quantity are unknown, creating a 'Russian Roulette' scenario for any user," the DEA said in a statement.

Shortly after the DEA took action, Kilcrease and her colleagues began noticing the appearance of new fentanyl-like drugs. By changing the fentanyl molecule slightly, Kilcrease said, foreign chemists may be skirting US laws and exporting drugs faster than the DEA can regulate them. Moreover, some of these substances are far stronger than fentanyl itself.

A single flake of pure carfentanil can tranquilize a 2,000-pound elephant, Kilcrease said. The drug is 100 times more potent than fentanyl and 10,000 times more potent than morphine. It can float through the air or be absorbed by touch and has been found in some mixes of grey death, Kilcrease said.

"If you think carfentanil is scary, there are actually compounds in the literature that are more potent," Iula said.

"A lethal dose is not even visible to the eye," she added. "That gives me the chills."

Editor's Note: A previous version of this story said there were four deaths in Georgia and Alabama, but officials now say the Auburn, Alabama, cases were overdoses, but not deaths. At this writing, the total number of "grey death" victims remains unclear.

The second to the last time I got dope was in ATL and it was hard as a rock and gray in color and turned purple or almost black when water was added. I was pissed about it taking so long to break down in the spoon and the color of it until I IV'd it and got the first good rush I'd gotten in months. It was an amazing rush followed by a super sedated sleepy buzz. I fell asleep as soon as I got home but I wanted more the next day and asked for it instead of the usual normal tan dope that sucks up yellow tinted.

^^^I had the super dark purple/black shit once too. It looked scary even. When I shot it my bottom lip immediately went numb and so did most of my body. It was the one and only time I thought I was gonna OD. I kept saying "oh shit oh shit". Then I got really high. Wasn't that stuff crazy? I will stick with my regular stuff thank you, haha.

LOL i wonder what made it purple? I thought it was great stuff but I also wonder what else was in it since I got such a good rush when big shots of dope/fent combo wouldn't ever give me a rush anymore. I imagine that stuff prob is dangerous for folks with tolerances that aren't quite as big as mine was at the time.

Dude I have no idea. I was like wtf it's blackish purple! I agree it would be dangerous. I have a low tolly still and that shit almost literally floored me. It was scary as hell though. I got lucky. Weird stuff man.

that was some weird shit. Was yours hard as a rock? I literally couldn't break off a piece with my hands/fingers/nails so I had to get some scissors and stab the fucking chunk to get pieces to come off of it.

It actually scared me a little bit at first 'cause I hadn't gotten a rush from a shot (no matter how much I did) in at least 6 months but it felt so good that I didn't freak out and ruin the rush, just let it roll thru my body and enjoyed it. But still had it in the back of my mind that I might have done too much since I was getting a GOOD rush. I'm actually gonna try to get some more once I get a little money saved up and phase up at the clinic, or at least take a UA at the clinic so I know I won't have another one for at least 10-15 days.

U-47700 was something I had always wanted to try and never made it around a city to find it and never could find an internet vendor either. Pissed me off, 2016 rolls around and DEA ban hammers this.

I remember the two heads from opiophile who came up with a racemic isomer of fent and were cooking it where they should not have been. I know both did some time, one was absolutely mad man fucked up in the head from having done so much fent.

I've always figured the other old boy, the one who cut a deal supposedly to not release the synth would get lit, a little pissed and spill the beans.

I'm wondering if they're not using something to compound it that's unusual and getting that grey color. Some type of a pharmaceutical lime(lower the ph so the dope plays nice together) ?

I would insufflate this stuff if I ran into it, but there is no way in seven hells I would shoot it. There are drug labs in the NW of Atlanta in some really bad places and it'd be my luck to get HIV or Hep-C.

The business of it being so hard as to require de-rocking makes me wonder if they didn't intend to add an acid back to it to make it more powdery and just said "Fuck it Morty, it's renegade portal fluid, let's just sell it."

There has been a bunch of the NYL compounds in the last few years in the Atlanta area. One guy was getting expired Wildnyl and then cutting it about a billion times and it was the cocaine of opiates. 10 minutes, to the moon Alice. 15 minute mark: fiending for more.

CDC's in Atlanta and they goddamn well know where this is being made(roughly speaking) and what is in it. The media is so imprecise with language you can't trust anything they say about drugs.

The chinese Fent's been a gift from god for the Mexican's because they can produce a powder and bypass the Italians.

I want to get my body in shape where I can ride my fucking Harley, smoke some muta, and enjoy my legal benzo's and subs.

I'm getting old quicker by the day, and this is a young man's (or young lady's) business more and more.

^^^bignasty... Naa, mine was in powder form like the stuff I usually get. It was not the normal chalky lookin stuff though, more loose. Usually my stuff either dissolves clear and yellowish or a bit muddy looking but still good.

There are drug labs in the NW of Atlanta in some really bad places and it'd be my luck to get HIV or Hep-C.

The chinese Fent's been a gift from god for the Mexican's because they can produce a powder and bypass the Italians.

I cop in NW Atlanta so I hope I don't end up with anything like that. U mean labs as cooking shit or just where they cut their product and/or re-rock their product?

Also, do u think the Italians still control ECP? I figured that was long gone since Columbians figured out how to make powder H. Do the cartels still not know how to make powder? Powder H is coming in from MX and it's not all fent. I mean it might all be laced with fent but it's not fent only, there is dope in that there powder.

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